Nearly three weeks after the assassination of Shukur and Haniyeh, the world is still waiting for Iran’s retaliation against Israel for the attacks. It inevitably will, but the more pertinent question is what comes next.
“The real question is not what Iran does, the question is what does the United States do?” asked Mohammad Marandi, a professor of English Literature and Orientalism at the University of Tehran on Sputnik’s Fault Lines on Monday. “If the United States gets involved in the war, then I think it’s the United States [that] will lose more than anyone else.”
Marandi explained that a war between the US and Israel on one side and Iran on the other would expand regionally and include the US-allied dictators who would be seen as complicit with the United States.
“So there will no longer be any gas or oil installations in the Persian Gulf region and beyond that will be able to export anything. So, that would lead to a global economic collapse,” Marandi continued. “It won’t lead to a recession or a depression, it will lead to a deep depression - something that we haven’t experienced before in recent centuries, even in the 1930s.”
Iran has no choice but to respond more forcefully than it did after an Israeli airstrike struck the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria. That attack, in which Iran utilized hundreds of drones to overwhelm Israeli air defenses and then hit military targets with missiles, was described as restrained outside of Western and Israeli media. Still, less than four months later, Israel struck Iran again.
“By definition, [that] means it was inadequate for a permanent solution. So, the Iranians are going to have to hit harder,” explained Marandi.
Despite a letter signed by the US and a few European countries telling Iran to stand down, most of the world understands that Iran has been restrained and reasonable compared to their Israeli counterparts. That will further isolate the United States if it joins Israel in a war with Iran, which will exacerbate its economic issues if there is a global collapse.
“How would that look for the United States, when the United States is going to fight the war on behalf of a genocidal regime and then bring down the world economy? It will be devastating to the United States because no one will sympathize with it,” Marandi added.
“The point is that they are dragging the world towards a catastrophe. This genocide will have consequences. And an expanded war will have enormous consequences,” he concluded.